Adventures through Azeroth
by Xylar
Summary: Two friends make their way through Azeroth together, discovering many different things along the way that may prove harder to overcome then they initially believed. Follow them on their travels together and see what goes on in the vast, magical world of Azeroth as they make their way through it together.
1. Chapter 1

Name: Kuliari

Nicknames: Kuli

Gender: Female

Race: Human

Age: 28

Birthday: Unknown. Parents deceased and found as an orphan in Lakeshire.

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Town of birth: Unknown. First found wandering the streets of Lakeshire at the age of 4. She has no recollection of where she lived before.

Currently lives in: Taken in by the Order of the Black Ram who are headquartered in the park district of Stormwind City, where she has a lodging of her own, though she barely spends any time there. Spends most of her time out and about travelling through Azeroth.

Languages spoken: Common. Demonic.

Native language: Common.

Job: Warlock enforcer for the Order of the Black Ram. Sorceress of the demonic arts.

Height: 1.85 meters.

Weight: 68 kg

Hairstyle and color: Shoulderlength hair usually worn in a simple ponytail. Dirty blonde.

Tattoos: Black ramshead on her right shoulder to mark her membership of the Order.

Scars: None.

Piercings: Several earpiercings.

Preferred style of clothing: Sorceress garbs that help control the flow of mana leylines while on the job. Comfortable travelling gear while on the road.

Personality: Brash, confident, easily one to jump to violence as a solution, loner, sardonic. Only Euphrasia has ever seen her softer side.

Likes: Studying, controlling demons to show superiority, arson, proving herself capable.

Dislikes: Incompetence, weakness, the order of the Silver Hand, religion.

Fears: Losing her magical abilities, imprisonment, exile from the Order.

Favourite colour: The orange of flames. Being born with the Mark of Cinder, Kuliari has a preternatural affinity for anything to do with fire.

Favourite food: Likes anything spicy or hot. Spicy hot barbecue wings are a particular favorite. Dislikes bitter foods.

Favourite drinks: Rhapsody Malt, for the smokey aftertaste it leaves in her mouth. It reminds her of the remnants of things she recently set on fire.

Hobbies: Studying her craft, controlling her powers to a greater and greater degree, travelling.

Talents/skills: A warlock of significance, able to control many different demons (though only one at a time), very knowledgeable in the art of shadow, demon and destruction magic.

Peaceful or Agressive: Though technically a member of the Order of the Black Ram, which is part of the forces of the Alliance who are peaceful when it permits, Kuliari is a free agent who does as she pleases, so long as it does not discredit her Order or the Alliance. Agressive towards most people. Peaceful to precious few.

Fighting skills: Highly trained and knowledgeable in the magical arts of shadow, destruction and demons. Very limited weapons or hand to hand training.

Weapon of choice: Staves that allow for easier channeling of the mana leylines.

Parents: Both parents unknown by name, all Kuliari claims to remember about them is that they are both deceased.

Siblings: None to her knowledge.

Other important relatives: None.

Partner: None.

Children: None.

Best friend: Euphrasia. Kindred spirits who both value their freedom, Kuliari instantly took a shine to the rogue, whom she met by happenstance on a mission in Westfall. Though their lives are vastly different, the two instantly clicked and became fast friends. A new experience for Kuliari, who has gotten used to being on her own most of her life.

Other important friends: Though technically not a friend, Kuliari has great respect for the leader of her Order and several of its other members, though far from everyone.

Enemies: The Order of the Silver Hand. While they are officially not enemies, Kuliari has clashed with their members on many occasions and left more then one of their bodies in her wake. Any opposed to the Order of the Black Ram.

Pets: Any demon she controls is treated as a pet with a particular set of abilities, though she cares little for their wellbeing, dismissing them when their services are not required. No other pets.

Short description: Found as an orphan at the age of 4 wandering the street in Lakeshire, Kuliari was initially moved to the orphanage in Stormwind. After several mysterious fires kept occuring around her, she was taken to the Kirin Tor to determine her magical potential. Shocked to discover that Kuliari was born with the Mark of Cinder, the magi offered to take her in and train her. Kuliari's rebellious nature, free spirit and utter lack of willingness to study the arcane arts made her a difficult student. When she set fire to part of the library in the mage's tower of Stormwind, the Kirin Tor looked to shackle her magical abilities, rather then guide them to their fruition. Saved from this fate by Zartan, the Black, a warlock working for the Order of the Black Ram, Kuliari was taken under their wing and given tutelage in the arts of shadow, destruction and demonic magic. She proved to be a natural talent in these arts and where she failed to accomplish anything with the Kirin Tor, she flourished with the warlocks of the Black Ram, becoming an enforcer for the Order at the age of 21. She was sent to complete a grueling series of tasks under the Ratchet branch of the Order, where she spent 7 years controlling her powers and learning how to wield them safely. Possessing the Mark of Cinder, Kuliari has a preternatural affinity for anything related to fire magic, often preferring to rely on this rather then the much more popular form of shadow magic favored by other warlocks. She was recently sent out as the representative of the Order of the Black Ram when the Alliance released their call to arms in an attempt to deal with the many issues plaguing them.


	2. Chapter 2

Name: Euphrasia

Nicknames: Euph

Gender: Female

Race: Human

Age: 21

Birthday: March 15th

Sexuality: Unmentioned

Town of birth: Thelsamar

Currently lives in: Near Loch Modan. Cabin by the lake.

Languages spoken: Common. Dwarvish. Little bit of Darnassian

Native language: Dwarven and common equally

Job: Free Agent. Unwilling to be directly tied to SI:7, Euphrasia decided to make her own way in the world, picking her own jobs.

Height: 171 cm

Weight: 64kg

Hairstyle and colour: Chestnut brown, shoulderlength hair. Usually tucked in a bun on top of her head. She changes it from time to time, but always keeps it out of her face.

Tattoos:A poorly done (most likely homemade) tattoo on the inner part of her right ankle in the rough shape of the Loch she has has her cabin at. She claims it's to keep her grounded and remind her of home, no matter where she is in the world.

Scars: A few minor cuts and scrapes that come from being in her line of work. One on her knee as a result of a childhood injury. After skipping on the rocks, she slipped, landed poorly and shattered her kneecap. One on her left shoulder, courtesy of a particularly brutal weapons trainer who claimed it was an accident.

Piercings: None. She believes enemies can easily use them to hurt her by simply pulling them out in a fight.

Preferred style of clothing: Leather gear that fits around her figure but still allows max movement. For travel, she prefers warm clothing that keeps her bundled up, with many pockets to hide weapons or simply store traveling equipment. Always has a pair of leather boots on hand for travel for maximum comfort.

Personality: Firmly believing in her own ability and training stubbornly to keep up with a brutal training regiment, she is far tougher then her appearance makes her seem. Stubborn and unwilling to give up her mission targets, she is tenacious, sometimes to a fault. Fiercely loyal to friends and family. She often tries to hide this vulnerability with a sharp and sarcastic wit. Her achilles heel is her love for animals, which she adores, adopting many of them and caring for all of them, perhaps a bit too much. Though Euphrasia is talented, she is also still young and relatively inexperiences, often making mistakes and finding herself on the wrong side of things and relying on her combat training more so then her diplomatic ability to force her way out of them.

Likes: Animals, sharp things, Kuliari, her mother and mountain regions

Dislikes: Horde. Spiders.

Fears: Losing loved ones.

Favourite colour: Dark green. It matches with her auburn hair color and reflects her love of nature.

Favourite food: Dragonbreath Chili, just like her mother used to make it.

Favourite drinks: Thistle tea, SI:7's secret recipe and Rhapsody Malt. She doesn't drink to get drunk, she drinks because of the atmosphere there and the good company

Hobbies: Taking care of her small army of pets in her Loch Modan homestead. Leatherworking on the side to fix her gear and make useful things for the pets. Her mother takes care of them while Euphrasia is out and about doing her job.

Talents/skills: a natural affinity for druids, because of how in tune she is with animals and nature.

Peaceful/Agressive: Lawful good with a stubborn streak for seeing justice done to those who do wrong.

Fighting skills: Proficient with daggers and swords. More so with daggers. Unlike most rogues, who prefer subterfuge and stealth, Euphrasia prefers the direct confrontation and heads into a fight straight on. Decent with a bow, but not proficient.

Weapons of choice: 2 swords for close encounter. Bow for ranged attacks.

Parents: Father died in a mining accident when she was five. Perhaps as a result of this tragic accident, she grew fiercely attached to her mother, who often visits her home and stays there to take care of the pets when Euphrasia is out and about. When Euphrasia is home, she often regales her mother with stories of her adventures. At least the things that are safe to share.

Siblings: None

Other important relatives: Grandparents on her father's side. They both reside in Stormwind City. She dotes on both of them and visits as often as she can. Though her grandparents disapprove of her career choice, they try to make peace with it and dote on her right back. She also has an uncle who, after the death of his brother, became a drunk and embittered man, who shuns all contact with his family, including his own parents. Though they don't really keep in touch much, Euphrasia does receive the occasional letter that lets her know what he's been up to.

Partners: No romantic partners. Only a warlock partner in crime.

Children: None.

Best friend: Kuliari. No childhood friends. Her animal companions were the closest thing she had as a child.

Other important relations: SI:7 contacts. They bring her in touch with possible jobs, offer payment and training and establish her network of information.

Enemies: Undead rogues in particular, but all horde in general. She is a staunch supporter of the Alliance and it's cause.

Pets: A siamese cat called Cookie. Cookie is the descendant of the original Cookie, who was the first pet Euphrasia ever obtained as a child. She found her after Cookie (the original) had gone a hunt that went awry and nurtured her back to health. After that, Cookie became a lifelong friend of the family. A parrot called Kiwi that just stuck by her side after a trip through STV. A bloodhound called Dirt. Though he isn't the brightest dog or the cleanest, he is fiercely loyal to her and protects his homestead with his life. Her pinto horse Bean. And an old Pig called Missy. She mostly roams around by herself, but comes to the house whenever she needs some extra special food.

Short description: Uncommon for a human, Euphrasia was brought up among the dwarves of Thelsamar and has closer ties to them then most other humans. Her father used to work in the Silver Stream Mines, until a collapsing hallway took his life. Unwilling to remove Euphrasia from her familiar surroundings, her mother decided to continue living in Thelsamar afterwards. Though she has family in the human capital of Stormwind, most of her life is centered in Thelsamar. Rambunctious and highly energetic from a young age, Euphrasia never took to learning from books, instead preferring outdoor activity and swordplay. Rather then forcing anything on her, her mother decided to embrace her natural talents and allowed for Euphrasia to train under the tutelage of the trainers of Si:7. Trained in the art of swordplay, subterfuge, and diplomacy, Euphrasia declined full membership into their ranks once she came of age, instead preferring to become her own boss. Unwilling to let go of a highly trained agent under their tutelage, SI:7 remains in regular contact with her and often employs her for their missions. Though she is her own boss, her ties to SI:7 remain strong.


	3. Chapter 3

Proving your worth.

'I don't understand why you can't just teach me right now,' Kuliari said with a huff. 'You have the summoning circle drawn in the basement. Demisette has the tome. Why do I need this choker? I don't even know this... what was her name? Surena?'

'Mind your tongue, Kuliari,' Gakin snapped. 'You are still under our care and very much in training so if you want to learn how to summon a voidwalker, you'll do as I say. Surena wronged me and took a choker that can't be replaced. You may not need this choker to learn how to summon one, but consider this: If you get me this choker, I'll owe you a favor. Surely you can use a favor from one in my position?'

Zardeth, who had overheard the conversation, let out a hearty chuckle. Kuliari's eyes snapped to him and lit up with the embers she still had trouble controlling.

'Try it, youngblood. See what happens.' Zardeth's demeanor suddenly changed and everyone could feel the dark magic crackling around him as the air started buzzing with a thick, humming noise.

'That's enough, Zardeth. Control yourself! And you, Kuliari, your task has been set before you. Go and fetch me this choker and then we'll get around to your lessons for controlling voidwalkers.'

Gakin turned around, picked something up and threw it at Kuliari. She snatched the pebble sized object out of the air and regarded it for a second. It was a small softly glowing stone. A communication relay. Common magic, but very useful.

'Use that when you need to contact me. Do NOT waste it on frivolous matters, it only has a few charges left and its range is limited so don't expect it to work everywhere you go. Now go.'

Kuliari glared at her teacher, breathed in deeply to calm down and made for the exit of the Slaughtered Lamb Inn.

'Brackwell Pumpkin farm. At least it's not too far,' she muttered. She was far from pleased with being saddled with this new task, but if she wanted to continue growing as a warlock and proving her value to the Order, she needed this knowledge. And if this was what it took to get it, then this was what she would do. So deep in thought she was that she almost didn't notice Jarel slide a note across his bar meant for her. Jarel was the bartender of the inn and in charge of making the place look normal, although it was a poorly kept secret. Everyone in Stormwind knew what was really going on in the Slaughtered Lamb, but few bothered to do anything about it. The warlocks who resided there were simply too powerful and useful to the nobles and the military forces.

'Heard some arguing down there, Miss Kuli. Everything alright?' Jarel pretended to clean some glasses and tried his best to make it look like he was being inconspicuous. Subtlety was never his forte, though.

'It's fine, Jarel. Just some unexpected business that came up. What's the word on the pumpkins this year? Harvest looking good?' It was code ofcourse and Kuliari didn't particularly care for it, but the powers that be insisted on using it so she played along.

'Fraid not, Miss Kuli. Pumpkins are looking mighty thin this year. I hear they hired someone new to help, though. Two of them, in fact. A Miss Caledon and a Mister Drudgemoor. If you don't mind my saying so, they're no good for a farm like that. Someone oughta do something about it.'

Kuliari sighed inwardly at the poor charade and palmed the small note Jarel had left on the bar. 'I'm sure someone will, Jarel. These things always have a way of working out. See you around then.'

'Miss Kuli!', Jarel shouted right before she was out the door. Kuliari turned around to face him. 'Watch the padfoots on the street. They're mighty interested in the goings on at that farm. Be a shame if they got there first.'

Kuliari paused for a second, looked at Jarel to gauge how serious it was and then nodded. As she made her way through the park district, avoiding the crowds her mind was elsewhere. 'Padfoots, huh? SI:7 is getting careless if Jarel is picking up word from them. Either that, or they're much closer to making a move there then I've been lead to believe. Either way, I better hurry up then.'

Several hours later, at Brackwell Pumpkin Farm.

Kuliari looked at the evening sky. 30 more minutes till a complete sundown. She had arrived at the edges of the farm an hour ago and carefully watched the goings on there. Minimal guards, but the farmhouse did have one guards at the door. Some movement around the barn, but she should be able to easily move around that in the dark of night. She suspected that the rabble slept in the barn while the more important ones got to reside in the house itself. If her information was anywhere near correct, Surena had 'charmed' her way up the ranks, so she'd probably be in the house too. A plan was already starting to form in her head.

Nightfall approached and with the last rays of sunlight remaining, Kuliari could already see the activity on the farm diminishing. Clearly they were not expecting trouble. The locals had been scared off entirely, the military was otherwise occupied and the defias weren't going to stay there for very long. Perfect for a lone agent like her to do some real damage, provided she was smart about it. Kuliari waited another half hour to bait out a change of the guards or a possible refreshing of the torches, but nothing happened. The guard that was posted at the house was clearly going to be there all night and torchlight was minimal. She started to make her approach to the house, making sure to remain on the opposite side of the barn, so as to keep an eye on it.

She snuck around the back of house and listened intently for any sound that might be coming from inside, but heard nothing. After a few more minutes of waiting, she was satisfied that its occupants must be asleep. She dashed around to the side of the house. She could see the back of the guard from this position. Crouching low, she kept watch of his position for a while, waiting for an ideal opening. Kuliari was not a patient woman, though and this guard didn't look like he was going to be moving any time soon, so she decided to just go for it and hope for the best. She chanted a quick incantation for a corruption spell and made it take root in her victim. The guard began convulsing and dropped to his hands to his knees in an attempt to feel better. Kuliari knew she had to move fast before the corruption spell took its toll completely. She rushed him from behind and in his ill state, the guard failed to see her coming on time. Before he could shout a warning to anyone, she was on top of thim, slammed into his chest and knocked him to the ground. He grunted and opened his mouth to shout for help, but Kuliari was faster. She was on top of him already and covered his mouth with her hand. Her dagger found its way to his throat before he could do anything other then look at her in shock, pain and surprise. He shook once, twice and his eyes rolled to the back of his head as the life gushed out of him in violent spurts of blood through his neck. Kuliari stood up from his corpse and took a quick glance around. All remained quiet. So far, so good.

She regarded the door to the house for a second. She still didn't hear anything coming from inside. She was expecting at least two people inside, but most likely more. Too much for any single person to handle. As she pondered her next move, she saw something move from the corner of her eye. She snapped her head to the side but whoever or whatever it was, they were already gone. She was certain she saw something and it couldn't have been one of the defias. They would have acted in alarm at the sight of their dead friend. Before she could decide what to do next, she heard the sound of glass shattering from the side of the house where she had seen the figure just moments before. 'God damn it,' she thought, 'they'll ruin everything.' She didn't have much choice, though. No time to hide the body or do anything. She bolted for the other side of the house as the torches inside sere lit and the commotion caused the people inside to wake up. At least the barn remained quiet for now. Kuliari estimated the distance from the back of the house to the safety of the nearby trees, but decided against it. The window had been broken on the other side of the house, so they'd investigate there first. She might get her opening yet.

The door of the house flung open and two halfdressed men came rushing out, one wielding a poorly maintained dagger. The other simply holding a torch. The guy with the torch quickly spotted the corpse. 'Hey,' he shouted, 'hey, they got Gerald. He's dead!'

'Alert the others,' the guy with the dagger shouted, 'it's not safe here anymore. We need to find them and move out of here. Now!' The guy with the torch go up, grunted as Kuliari saw his head twist awkardly and he dropped the torch to the ground. A small throwing dagger was firmly planted in the side of his head. Kuliari didn't need to check him to know that mans was dead as dead can be. Whoever had thrown that dagger knew what they were doing. Right through the temple. Clean and instant kill. 'Erian!' dagger guy shouted. He twirled towards where the dagger would have come from and Kuliari decided to take this moment to act, hoping fiercely that her shadowy friend was on her side. She chanted a quick immolation spell, let the flames rest in her hand and rushed from the side of the house to the front. The dagger wielding guy saw her movement and turned her way, but he was too slow to do anything about Kuliari placing her flaming hands on his wrists. He screamed in agony as his wrists suffered severe burns and he dropped his dagger to the ground. Before Kuliari could do anything more, the guy stopped screaming and slumped over forward. Kuliari deftly stepped to the side and saw another throwing dagger in the back of the guy's head. She dashed back to the side of the house and tried to assess the situation again. Amazingly, the defias rabble who she knew was staying in the barn were staying quiet. The barn continued not to show any sign of life yet. If anyone was still left in the house, they weren't showing any signs of coming out.

Minutes ticked by and nothing happened. Kuliari waited tensely, tucked away in the shadows of the house, but neither defias nor her mysterious compatriot made any movement. Finally, Kuliari heard something from inside the house. 'Erian? Morgan? What's going on out there?' A female stepped out of the house and saw the corpses of her friends. She gasped in shock and Kuliari caught a quick glimpse of a ruby red choker around her neck. 'Surena Caledon. Must be!' she thought. Surena screamed and at long last, the barn doors swung open as several others came out. Kuliari was on the wrong side of the house and knew she would be spotted before long if she didn't make a move soon. But she needed that choker. 'Hard way it is then,' she thought as he emerged from the shadows with the incantation of a shadow bolt primed and ready. She hurled the bolt of shadow at the face of one of the guys coming from the barn. He had just enough time for a short scream before he fell the ground, his face a horribly disfigured mess of blood and bone.

'All I want is her,' Kuliari shouted as she showed herself to the defias and pointed at Surena. 'I don't have any quarrel with you. Let me have her and you can all walk away with your lives. And if not, well...' Kuliari gestured around at the corpses. She may not have killed all of them, but they didn't know that.

'Who are you then, thinking you can just waltz in here and demand my head?' Surena glared at Kuliari. 'You think I don't recognize your brand of magic? You're with that fool Gakin, aren't you?'

Kuliari shrugged. 'You took the man's property. And now he wants it back. So you can either give it to me and continue on living. Or you know... not.'

Surena narrowed her eyes at Kuliari, glanced at the defias man from the barn and back at her. Surena was new to the defias. And Kuliari had already killed 4 of them. Or at least, they thought she had. Her mysterious friend from earlier seemed to vanished completely. The defias probably weren't willing to risk any more of their ranks for the likes of Surena. Kuliari was sure of it. Many of them glared hatefully at Surena.

'You guys there, let me have Surena and you can just carry on doing whatever it is you've been doing. I really don't give a shit. Or, you can make it a fight. Maybe you'll win. You'll probably win. But not before I really, really hurt some of you. Or worse...'

As Kuliari said this, she summoned all her magical energies and channeled them into the strongest fire spell she could muster. Her eyes lit up with embers, her hands glowed with the orange of flames and her aura became distinctly hot. The defias witnessed her display of magic, looked back and forth at Surena, Kuliari and each other until finally one of them stepped foward and said: 'Erian is dead. Morgan is dead. You, Surena,' he said, while pointing at her in accusation, 'are not worth any more defias lives. The warlock can have you. Boys, we didn't see nothing. Go back inside. Let them fight it out.'

'You wretches,' Surena shouted, 'I sacrificed everything for you. I'm as much Brotherhood as any of you. Get back here!' But the defias had made up their mind. They slowly moved back inside the barn. One of them took the time to spit at Surena's feet. Kuliari had taken a huge gamble, but it had paid off. She was right. The defias didn't care about Surena. Gakin didn't care about Surena.

Surena hands started to glow with fire and Kuliari prepared an incantation to match the incoming ball of fire she was expecting to come her way. But no such fireball came. Or at least, not for Kuliari. Instead, Surena shot her fireball at the barn, which quickly caught on fire. 'I'll not be abandoned a second time,' Surena shouted, 'if you won't help me willingly, I'll burn you out and force you...' Surena suddenly began screaming violently and convulsing in agony. She had been so focused on the defias, she didn't keep track of Kuliari who had taken the opportunity to place her under the curse of agony. Surena screamed and clawed at her own eyes, skin and tore at her hair as the curse consumed her. Had she finished her training properly, she would have shadow wards and other magic available to prevent the pain. Kuliari walked over to her, easily pushed her down and watched mercilessly as Surena continued to scream and writhe in agonizing pain. She bent over to rip the choker off Surena's neck and placed it in a pouch on her belt. Finally, she took some form of pity on her, picked up the dagger the guy from before had dropped and plunged it into her chest. At long last, Surena's screams halted as she died from her wounds.

Kuliari spared one last look at the barn. The fire was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. Not only was Surena an inept warlock, she had aimed her fireball poorly and hit the stone portion of the barn. Whatever wood she did manage to hit was quickly brought under control by the remaining defias. Kuliari thought it best to retreat quickly before the defias changed their minds about her. On her way out, she spared one last glance at the broken window on the side of the house and wondered who that mysterious ally could have been. But those were problems for another day. For now, she had different matters to attend to.


	4. Chapter 4

Clearing a debt.

In hindsight, Euphrasia considered that perhaps she might have acted a little too brash. But once the cow is milked, there's no squirting the milk back up her udders so here she was to see things through. It was supposed to be such a simple mission too. Shake the target for information and then report back to her contacts. Euphrasia sighed, removed the talisman from her pouch and thumbed over it three times in a row, as she had been instructed to do once her mission was complete. She was not looking forward to what was about to happen, but if she ran now, she'd be running for the rest of her life and it would be a short one. She made no effort to hide the body, her weapons or conceal anything that had happened. They'd find out sooner or later anyway, so better to be upfront about it.

A few minutes later, Osborne came through the door. If he was surprised, he didn't show it. He regarded the room, looked at Euphrasia with a blank expression and said: 'You get two minutes to explain this. Better make it good.'

Euphrasia had been considering how to approach this and decided the straightforward truth was probably the best way to go. 'I killed him,' she shrugged and casually waved toward the corpse on the floor.  
'I can see that. What I want to know is why?'  
She wasn't looking forward to this part of the conversation. Euphrasia took a deep breath. 'He was corrupt, tried to shake me down for money and when it became apparent that wasn't going to happen he suggested... other arrangements for payments. In Thelsamar, that would've...'  
'We are not in Thelsamar!' Osborne bellowed, 'We are in Stormwind and as long as you are here, you do things by our rules. You don't kill a man who has important information because he insults you. Did you even think it through. Huh? What are you gonna do now? Think about that? Don't even answer that, because you'll either lie or disappoint me and I don't want to hear either.'  
Euphrasia clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. 'We can work this out. His contact doesn't know he's dead yet.'  
'Nor do we know who his contact is. Which we would have done, if you had done your job! Work this out? How are you going to work this out?'  
'He has a business contact. Surely, he must know something. Osric was not THAT important. If he were, you wouldn't have sent me. You would have sent someone from the inside. So, we shake down his business partner...' Euphrasia struggled to remember the name.  
'Heinrich.'  
'Right, Heinrich. We pay him a little visit, shake him down and before you know it, we're back on track. He was low level, Osborne. You know that as well as I do. Anything he knows, someone else we can approach is bound to know as well.'  
Osborne stroked his chin in contemplation. 'Heinrich is an honest man. A good man. He's not connected to us or to the Defias. He's just a businessman. In case you haven't figured out what I'm trying to say yet, that means: Don't kill him. Now go. Heinrich's house isn't far from here. You know the place. Honest Blades. If you hurry, you can still get there before sunrise. Don't worry about this mess, I'll take care of it.'  
Euphrasia nodded, casually wiped her daggers on some cloth and prepared to head out the door.  
'Euphrasia!' Osborne shouted. She turned to face him. 'This better work out for you, because if it doesn't, there's nothing I can do for you. We don't look kindly on blunders like this. Even from outside operatives.'

Getting the information from Heinrich had proven to be easy. If she wasn't sure of the fact that he wasn't connected to anything shady, she would have thought it had gone too easy. He had spilled the beans pretty much from the first time she asked. Turns out, Heinrich and Osric didn't really get along. She hadn't told him of Osric's unfortunate demise, but she doubted Heinrich would be attending the funeral. But even more importantly, he had told her who and where his contact was. Morgan The Collector. Euphrasia made her way through the narrow, winding alleyways of Old Town, heading for Osborne's contact location.

'Morgan. I'm familiar with him. Used to work for us, if you can believe it. I'm not surprised to hear he turned to the Defias, though. He was always opportunistic.'  
Osborne poured over some papers and filed through a book that Euphrasia was pretty sure was the ledger of Limited Immunity, formerly owned by Osric Strang. No doubt Osborne was looking to replace him with one of his own people already. 'Opportunistic, indeed,' she thought with a mental sneer of disdain, though she made sure to keep her facial expression neutral.  
'Alright, Euphrasia, here's the plan. You made this mess, so now you have to clean it up. You said he was at Brackwell Pumpkin Farm? Then that's where you're going. Now. Tonight. And since you seem to be so good at killing people, maybe while you're headed there you can see to it that Morgan becomes intimately familiar with that. Got it?'  
Sometimes, working for SI:7 and all their internal politics really got on her nerves. Still, it was better then being on their bad side. 'Got it,' she replied, maintaining her neutral expression and hiding her irritation.  
Osborne returned to his papers and ignored her, which Euphrasia took as her sign to leave.

Brackwell Pumpkin Patch was deep into Elwynn Forest, but passage there was relatively trouble free, if you travelled by daylight. Rumors on the wind were that the Defias had ousted the Brackwells from their farm and taken it over as their own center of operations, in a bold attempt to settle into Elwynn. Euphrasia was not a farmer, but it didn't take a genius to understand that the people currently roaming the pumpkin weren't farmers. Farmers didn't usually come equipped with swords or the telltale red mask of the Defias draped across the lower halves of their faces. Whatever they were doing here, it was serious enough to dispatch a dozen of them out in broad daylight. Then again, with the state Stormwind's army was in, who was going to stop them? But that wasn't Euphrasia's biggest concern right now. She didn't have the first idea of what Morgan looked like and in her haste to leave, she had neglected to ask Osborne for anything to recognize him by. But even if she did know, how was she to get to him? The place was positively crawling with Defias members. based on their equipment, they were low level grunts but even so, way too many for any single rogue to handle. A little reconaissance around, from a safe distance, revealed a barn on the side of the farm and a house not too far off from it. If this Morgan was as important as Osborne made him out to be, he was sure to be in the house. The barn was probably where the majority of the grunts would be spending their nights. There was nothing for it but to wait for nightfall and see what could be done.

As night fell, the Defias retreated into the barn one by one, much as Euphrasia had expected. They left one guard posted at the door, but other then that, the place was virtually deserted now. Piece of cake for someone of her calibre to sneak inside and complete her mission. Euphrasia easily snuck to the side of the house opposite from where the guard was posted. Poor fool had no idea what was about to happen. Just as she was prepared to make her way around the house to dispose of him, Euphrasia was surprised to see that someone was beating her to it. A dark skinned figure rushed from the other side of the house, tackled the guard to the ground and slit his throat before anything else could be done. 'So, who's this girl then?' Euphrasia thought, 'Can't be SI:7. She doesn't look the part and they wouldn't bother sending two operatives on the same mission. Especially not a careless one like that. The kill was fast and clean, but the fact that she hadn't betrayed her position yet was nothing but sheer dumb luck. But it did Give Euphrasia an idea. While this stranger was here, perhaps a little strike of opportunity might divert the attention of the Defias to her and make it easier to achieve her mission goal. She had to act quickly, though. She picked up a nearby rock and without hesitation she hurled it at the window on the side of the house, which shattered loudly.  
The dark skinned woman was startled and dashed back to the other side of the house, clearly annoyed by the turn of events. Inside the house, in the meantime, there was commotion aplenty. The door swung open just as the other girl managed to duck behind cover and two halfdressed men, one wielding a torch, the other holding a shoddy looking dagger came running out. The barn miraculously remained quiet, for now. The torch wielding guy quickly spotted the corpse and shouted for help from his buddies. It didn't look like there was anyone else inside the house, so one of these guys had to be Morgan. She was sure of it. No time for hesitations, though. The place was about to explode with Defias activity. She had to move quick. She unsheated one of her throwing daggers and aimed for the easiest target. Torch wielding guy never daw it coming. Her dagger landed square in the side of his head and based on the awkward way he dropped to the floor, Euphrasia was certain he was dead on impact. The dagger guy shouted the name Erian as he went down. Not her target then. Things were never this easy. She prepared to deal with dagger guy as he twirled her way, but the other woman surprised her by rushing from the other side of the house, her hands aflame. She attacked dagger guy and set his wrists on fire with her hands. Dagger guy screamed in agony and Euphrasia, seeing her clean shot, threw a second dagger at the back of the guys head while he was distracted. He slumped forward as the dark skinned woman deftly avoided his dead body crashing down on her.  
A new voice came from inside the house, asking for Erian and Morgan. Euphrasia had no idea who this female voice belonged to, but whoever it was, she had just confirmed that Euphrasia had successfully killed her target. No reason to stick around then.

Euphrasia ran through the woods as she heard the commotion at the pumpkin farm severely increase. A quick glance back revealed an unnatural orange glow and several Defias members finally coming out of the barn. She briefly considered going back to help the dark skinned woman but decided against it. There were simply too many of them and Euphrasia didn't even know if she could be trusted. It was a sink or swim moment for her. All that mattered now was that her mission objective was complete and that she was back in the good graces of her employers. The woman would have to make it out of there on her own, fate willing.


End file.
